Lack of water

jennifernil

Posting this for a neighbour. They have a 4 bed bungalow with 2 bathrooms. Original set up was conventional boiler in kitchen, HW cylinder in hall cupboard, CW tanks in loft (for water and CH).

Now they are having an extension built, same number of bedrooms but bigger, and an extra bathroom. However as work is still underway, only one bathroom is in use at present. So extra radiators and additional/altered pipes. A new conventional boiler has been installed in the garage, which is under the house. The HW cylinder has been moved to the loft and now sits beside the CW tanks. The new boiler seems to work well.

When we visited them early in January we noticed that the flow of water to all the bathroom taps was pathetic, and the toilet cistern took ages to fill. We commented on it at the time.

Last week the boiler stopped working, the house was cold. BG were called and soon it was fixed, but the householders have no idea what the problem was. The next day the hot water to the taps started playing up.

When they turn on a tap the hot comes for a short time, then just disappears. Sometimes it dribbles a little. If the tap is turned off and left a bit the water comes again then disappears.

BG were again called (they have a heating/plumbing contract thing) and muttered something about an airlock, and left without fixing it. Now they want paid to come back again.

So.........is this an airlock? Or maybe debris in the pipework causing a blockage? Could it be due to the position of the HW cylinder? BG want to move it to the garage too (at a cost of course).

Canucklehead

Hi

As they have the builders in anything is possible.
First see if the cold tanks are full and the ballvalve is not blocked.
If the cylinder is next to the cold ones ,as you describe , then that won't work.The cylinder must be under the cold tank.(Is that why BG want to move it?)
I would fit the cylinder where it will serve the points of use equally. (to avoid long waits for hot water at the taps, as has been posted on MSE recently)
Check any valves are fully open .
It's not BGs problem. If they have builders in and , I assume, plumbers then they should be responsible for any shortage of water.

Corgi Guy.

PS did you resolve this?.. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=684025

jennifernil

Thanks for that, we too thought that the HW cylinder in the loft was a bad idea! They had it moved because they wanted to expand the bathroom into the cupboard that housed the cylinder. They have one bathroom and the kitchen at one end of the house, and 2 new bathrooms away at the other end, so putting the cylinder anywhere sensible will be difficult!

I am trying to persuade them to find a space to move it to. I don't think I would want my HW cylinder in the garage.

They have had a lot of new pipes put in and most seem to be only 15mm, so that will not be helping, and I'm afraid their plumbers may be of the "cowboy" variety so may well have left debris in the pipes too. I think they have been badly advised all the way.

They have had the "cowboys" back today, so I am waiting to hear the outcome.

Yes, we did indeed resolve the hot water to the shower problem! I meant to go back and report the outcome but good intentions do not always get carried out!

It turned out to be nothing to do with the much maligned boiler, but a problem with the bath/shower mixer. It looks like a mixer tap but one side is the temperature and the other the flow. She found originally that in shower mode it was fine, but in bath filler mode it was either off or full on, which made it impossible to get hot water for a bath as the boiler could not heat it fast enough.

So we got new inserts for both sides supplied under the warranty by Bristan, but only needed the flow side. That was nearly 3 years ago. This new bit had now failed completely in both modes and could only be completely full on. When turned down it was somehow shutting the water off and on quickly causing the noise and vibration in the water pipes and transmitting this back to the boiler.

As none of the other taps in the house were affected OH decided to check out the shower first and soon found the cause. Luckily we had kept the original insert, so he refitted it and hot showers were immediately restored!
All I need to do now is try to obtain a new one so she can fill the bath as well.

I hope you understood all that? The mixer is a Bristan Fever (thermostatic), do you know if they are prone to this problem?

Canucklehead

Hi

Thanks for that.

I have not come across that mixer so,no. Looking online it has a 5 year guarantee.It doesn't appear on Shower Doc spares site, so Bristan would be the place to get replacements. (Buy two?!!)

Corgi Guy.

jennifernil

A 5 year guarantee? On our paperwork it says 2 years. Was that on the Bristan site?

Canucklehead

Hi...yes, on the Bristan site here http://89.145.100.46/epages/webstore.storefront/?ObjectPath=/Shops/bristan/Products/%22FV%20THBSM%20C%22
Download fitting instructions for details.

HTH

Corgi Guy

jennifernil

I am going to dig out the receipt and get in touch with them! Should be able to get a replacement under the guarantee now. That is the exact one. She has only owned the flat since Dec 2003, and the shower was not put in till about 4 months later, so much less than 5 years ago.

The paperwork is at the flat, but I'm sure I remember 2 years, not to worry, I will go with what they say!

Many thanks!

jennifernil

To return to my original question. Neighbour has now had BG back and they cleared the airlock. The "cowboys" failed to show. However water is still feeble. BG suggest an "unvented cylinder" could be an alternative to moving existing one again. It will apparently cost a bit. Would this be a good solution?

I am off to "google" it, but a (second) professional opinion would be appreciated.